Arion Bank rejects minister’s claim about board practices

Arion Bank says it does not use the closed preliminary board meetings practised at state-owned company Landsvirkjun, contradicting an example cited by Finance Minister Daði Már Kristófersson, mbl.is reports. Andrés Magnússon, a representative of the editor of Morgunblaðið, said he contacted the bank and was told no.

The issue was discussed by Magnússon and Björn Ingi Hrafnsson on the Spursmál programme, where they examined the minister’s explanations and his responsibility for the situation at Landsvirkjun after chief executive Hörður Arnarson left his post.

In an interview published in Morgunblaðið on November 11, Magnússon asked the minister about closed preliminary meetings held before formal Landsvirkjun board meetings. He said not all board members were necessarily present, no minutes were kept and the agenda was arranged differently from what the law required.

Kristófersson said the approach was becoming more common and was used by other boards at state-owned companies. Asked to give three examples, he named Arion Bank. Magnússon pointed out that the bank is not state-owned. The minister then said he could not name a state-owned company using the same arrangement, adding that he had not asked about it and did not have that information.

Magnússon described the exchange as unusual. After the minister named Arion Bank, he contacted it and received a denial. Hrafnsson agreed with the criticism, saying people who had served on the Landsvirkjun board considered the practices unprecedented and said they had not been used there before.

Magnússon said the Landsvirkjun matter was far from resolved. While crediting the minister for giving interviews, he said the minister’s account had shifted and that some answers suggested he was unfamiliar with aspects of the case. Magnússon also questioned how the minister could have been unaware of the problem when Landsvirkjun’s governance had reportedly been discussed nine times.